CONFLICT IN IRAQ / Leading Shiite joins push for southern autonomy

Edward Wong, New York Times

Published 4:00 am, Friday, August 12, 2005

Photo: KHALID MOHAMMED

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Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, leading Shiite Muslim member of the Iraqi Governing Council holds a press conference in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003. Al-Hakim said he discussed the Nov. 15 power-transfer accord on Tuesday with Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite leader. Painting in the background shows his brother Muhammed Baqir al-Hakim, who was killed in an explosion last August, and the falling statue of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Iraqis look at a hole on the roof damaged by mortars in an overnight attack in central Baghdad. CAT less

Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, leading Shiite Muslim member of the Iraqi Governing Council holds a press conference in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003. Al-Hakim said he discussed the Nov. 15 ... more

Photo: KHALID MOHAMMED

CONFLICT IN IRAQ / Leading Shiite joins push for southern autonomy

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2005-08-12 04:00:00 PDT Baghdad -- One of Iraq's most powerful Shiite politicians strongly backed demands Thursday for the formation of a semi-independent region in the oil- rich south, adding fresh turmoil to the drafting of a new constitution as Monday's deadline for its completion draws near.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a religious Shiite with close ties to Iran, told a large gathering in Najaf it was necessary for Shiite Arabs to secure broad governing powers for the south, which is dominated by the Shiites and was long oppressed under the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Al-Hakim has been holding direct talks with other Iraqi leaders over the new constitution, and his remarks signaled a sharpening of the position held by some Shiites less than a week before the document is scheduled to be finished.

The issue of autonomous regions has become the biggest sticking point in the negotiations. Kurdish leaders, intent on preserving the broad powers of the Iraqi Kurdish area in the north, have been the biggest proponents of regional autonomy, but Sunni Arabs, fearing an unfair division of oil resources, have adamantly rejected the idea.

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Some Sunni Arab leaders immediately denounced Thursday the call for a semi-independent southern region and said it would now be hard to finish the constitution on time.

"I don't think we will reach an agreement in four days," said Fakhri al- Qaisi, a Sunni Arab member of the 71-member constitutional committee. "There's no agreement between any of the groups. All the doors have closed. The Kurds have insisted on their demands. The Shia insist on their demands."

Until now, Shiite religious leaders in Baghdad had spoken broadly of moderate regional powers. Al-Hakim's comments lent support to stronger demands for autonomy by mostly secular Shiite politicians in the south. "To keep the political balance of the country, Iraq should be ruled under a federal system next to the central government," al-Hakim told thousands of worshipers. "We think it is necessary to form one entire region in the south."

Throughout the drafting of the constitution, the country's major ethnic and sectarian groups have bargained hard on a variety of matters, but no single issue has inspired more frustration or ill will than the definition of regional powers. Al-Hakim's remarks highlighted the division just days before the Aug. 15 deadline, when the National Assembly is supposed to approve a draft of the constitution.

Approval in the interim legislature would be followed by a popular referendum on the constitution in October and national elections to select a permanent government in December.

Although Sunni Arabs make up only about 20 percent of the population, they form the majority in at least four of the 18 provinces. If two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces vote against the constitution, it will be defeated under rules set down in the interim constitution.

The Bush administration has put enormous pressure on the Iraqis to stick to the timetable, hoping that the process will help drain the Sunni Arab insurgency of some of its wrath and bolster flagging U.S. opinion about the war in Iraq.

Al-Qaisi said Sunni Arabs could not approve the creation of autonomous regions, as in a confederation, because that would lead to a breakup of Iraq. "We want the unity of Iraq," he said, "and we want to preserve this unity."

The movement for southern autonomy that al-Hakim supports has been gathering momentum over the summer. Politicians in the south, particularly in the city of Basra, have been lobbying drafters of the constitution to enshrine the right of provinces in Iraq to break off into autonomous regions, similar to the Kurdish area.

The south could profit enormously from such an arrangement -- it has 80 to 90 percent of Iraq's vast oil reserves and the only ports in the country. Many southerners say they are frustrated that the central government in Baghdad does not allocate more oil revenue to their impoverished region.

Many of the Shiite politicians who initially backed the idea of southern autonomy are secular. The most powerful supporter has been Ahmed Chalabi, a vice prime minister and former Pentagon favorite. Al-Hakim is the first leading religious Shiite figure to lend his backing in such a public way.

Al-Hakim's party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, wields considerable power in Basra and the rest of the south. It heads a coalition that has a majority of the seats on the Basra governing council, and its armed wing, the Badr Organization, controls many of the senior positions in the Basra security forces. Religious Shiite mores have taken hold in Basra, and al-Hakim's portrait is plastered along streets and police checkpoints throughout the city.